Overachieving Trojans drop heartbreaker to Cadets

NORWALK -- The ultimate goal for the 2009 Weston boys lacrosse team was to become Class S state champions.

After putting together an inspiring comeback after trailing 8-3 at halftime to St. Joseph Saturday afternoon, it looked as if they might just accomplish that goal.

However, third-seeded St. Joseph scored two goals in the final two minutes of the game to hold on to a thrilling 12-11 victory over No. 9 Weston in Class S state championship in front of a raucous crowd Saturday at Jack Casagrande Field.

The Trojans (13-9) had a couple opportunities to tie the game but a few big defensive stops and one big save by St. Joseph goalie Tim Izzo was enough to take home the title for the Cadets.

"Our defense came up huge in that final minute," St. Joseph head coach Joe Izzo said. "We put it all together down the stretch and it is an unbelievable feeling to win the state championship."

After trading goals for the entire first quarter, the Cadets began to take control as they scored five straight goals to take an 8-3 lead going into halftime. Joe Bacarella was fantastic for St. Joseph, tallying four goals and five assists. Connor Brawley added two goals and Pat Moore also chipped in with two.

After a Sean Ledwick goal tied the game at 3-3 with 9:05 remaining in the second quarter, Bacarella found Pat Mulligan, who buried a shot to make it 4-3 in favor of the Cadets.

Just 49 seconds later, Moore found the back of the net to give St. Joseph a 5-3 lead. Two goals by Baccarella and attackman Matt Marini (two goals, one assist) made it 7-3 and Moore notched another goal for himself to send St. Joseph into halftime with a seemingly commanding lead.

However, the Trojans, as they have down so often this year, refused to give in.

"We knew we could come back, we all believed in our team." junior midfielder Robbie Cordisco said. "We knew we just needed to run our offense and things would fall into place for us."

The Trojans did exactly that as they scored four unanswered goals to pull within one goal by the end of the third quarter.

"That third quarter we really played the way we wanted to." Weston head coach Brendan Carney said. "We got a lot of possessions and really ran our offense the way we should have the entire game."

Weston's comeback was led by senior Morgan Faller, who finished the game four goals, including three goals during the second-half comeback. Faller got things going for Weston as he took a nice feed from Ledwick and buried his first goal of the game with 8:51 remaining in the third quarter.

After a Peter Smith goal made it 8-5, Faller scored two more goals within two minutes of each other to cut the St. Joseph lead to 8-7. Faller made it 8-6 with 3:47 left in the third quarter with a goal off a great pass from Alexander Scher. Scher dodged behind the goal and found the cutting Faller, who buried his shot into the net.

With just under two minutes to play in the third, junior long pole defender Tucker Drimal made an outstanding pickup on a loose ball just over the midline. Drimal scooped up the groundball and found Faller, who ran by his defender to tally another goal.

Weston had outscored St. Joseph 4-0 in the period to grab momentum before Pat Corcoran took a feed from Bacarella to make it 9-7 with 10:25 remaining in the game.

As they had done the whole game, the Trojans didn't let up.

"A lot of teams would just roll over if they were in our situation," Faller added. "We have a great group of leaders and we knew we just had to give out best and leave everything out on the field."

With 6:59 remaining in the game, Ledwick dodged to the top of the box, beat his man and struck for his third goal of the game to make it 9-8.

Baccarella scored his fourth goal of the game to make it 10-8 with just under five minutes to play. However, once again Weston battled back, scoring two unanswered goals to tie the game at 10-10 with two minutes to play.

Smith's second goal of the game made it 10-9 and Faller took a feed from Cordisco and found the back of the net to tie the game.

Just 29 seconds later, St. Joseph took an 11-10 lead. Curtis McKeon won the faceoff and got the ball to Bacarella down the right wing. Bacarella skipped a pass over to Brawley, who netted his second goal of the game.

After another faceoff win, the Cadets found the back of the net one more time. After a timeout, Marini ran down the right sideline and into the alley untouched before beating Weston goaltender Josh Briskman (13 saves) to give the Cadets a 12-10 lead with 1:45 left.

Cordisco won the faceoff for Weston and took it himself down the alley to cut the lead to 12-11 with 1:31 remaining.

Cordisco won the next faceoff, but after a save by Izzo and two Weston turnovers, the Cadets regained possession with just over 30 seconds left. Bacarella stepped into of the box with five seconds remaining, giving Weston one last chance.

The ball was thrown deep into the other end and quickly scooped up by Scher, who surprisingly got a shot off. The ball glanced just wide of the net as time expired.

"It was a great run." Carney said. "Of course we wanted to win but the kids played a great game and I am so proud of them."

Weston won three straight road games to advance to Saturday's championship.

"It's going to be tough without the seniors next year," said Cordisco, who finished with a goal and three assists. "They are a great bunch of guys. They have a tremendous amount of heart."